Blue Hues
by crypticnotions
Summary: A psychotic killer, a love triangle, and wedding plans complicate Shawn and Angela's lives. Sequel to Shades Of Red.


Disclaimer: I don't own BMW. I do own Marcus, Sera, Sheila, Joe, Anthony, Kelsie, and anyone else not associated with the series.   
  
Story: Blue Hues  
  
Author: crypticnotions  
  
Rating: R....this will likely build up to it's rating like Shades Of Red did.  
  
A/N: Well, after a much needed brainstorming break, I'm back with the follow-up to Shades Of Red. I really hope it is a suitable follow-up. I plan to bring lesser characters to light from the first story, so you might say, "hey, didn't I read about them before?" and you'll probably be right. I also plan to just have fun. I hope you guys have fun along with me. I'm having some trouble experimenting with my style so I hope I have slipped back into it okay. Here goes.... Oh and this is set about 15 months after Shades Of Red and the gang is still living in Philly.   
  
Also, I hope that eventually this will be solid enough to stand on it's own, but right now, you'll be pretty much confused if you don't read Shades Of Red. Another note: I do not have grammar check on this computer and I'm the sole editor of my work, so please bear with the grammar mistakes and feel free to point out any.   
  
Chapter 1: Midnight Blue  
  
*****  
  
She felt the shadows pressing upon her. He was getting closer. Her breath fell in loud gasps and she tried not to look back. She knew he could tell. Could tell he was winning. She was almost to the car when his hand reached out and grabbed her. She felt herself falling, falling, falling...  
  
Angela sat upright in her Victorian style bed and looked around. He was not here. She sighed, first with relief and then with realization. She was having another one of her nightmares. She untangled herself from the dark blue sheets. Sweat seeped from her body and she rose from the bed and stumbled down the stairs.   
  
It was times like this that she wished that Shawn hadn't accepted the job as copy reader for the local paper. She needed him at nights and that is when he had to work.   
  
She milled around their kitchen. She reached the smooth oak cabinets and pulled out a glass and filled it with juice before she sat down at the small circular table.   
  
She and Shawn had pitched in to buy an apartment. They had separate rooms-hers on the second floor and his on the first-but they shared everything else. They had three weeks before they were to get married and then they would search for a house or possibly move to New York City. They hadn't decided which yet.   
  
She would rather move to New York, but didn't want to burden Shawn with the request. He had been through a lot himself. He still blamed himself for the bullet she had received.   
  
At the thought of the wound her shoulder ached to remind her of the surgery she needed. She shuddered. Another great reminder of Marcus. And with the thought of Marcus her blood froze. She didn't need a calendar to remember that he was to be released in two days.   
  
She nearly spat out the juice she had just sipped up. Only Fifteen lousy months. That had been his sentence. Apparently, the great justice system cared nothing about victims. She closed her eyes and tried to push the feelings away. She needed to go back to bed. She had to get up and write an article for a magazine. One thing the whole ordeal had afforded her was the opportunity of more writing jobs.   
  
She glanced at the clock on the microwave and the numbers glared back, 12:05 am.   
  
She put her glass in the sink and headed back up to her bed.   
  
*****  
  
Two more days. Marcus stretched in the tiny bunk bed and smiled. He had been through a lot in the last year and a half and now he was almost out. He had plans. He closed his eyes.   
  
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get Angela's face at the trial out of his mind. The fear he had seen etched on her beautiful face had carried him many a night in this hell-hole. Jail was everything people said it was and more. There was no compassion just hardened criminals angry at the world.   
  
He had nearly been raped a couple of times and had barely avoided a potentially fatal battle in the shower room. Then there had been the fact that he was rich to contend with. Guys seemed to hate the rich nearly as much as the molesters. Many felt they wouldn't even be in the place if they had had the money for a descent trial or a good education and here came these rich little boys mucking up their chance of success by getting thrown in jail over some petty crime.   
  
But now with less than forty-eight hours left he could see the sun cracking through the clouds. Of all oddities, that song about the sun coming out tomorrow ran through his head. He would have laughed at the thought if he had been alone.   
  
His thoughts ran back to Angela. He thought about her almost non-stop. He had had some interesting fantasies thrown in the mix. He had even taken his counselors advice for awhile and tried to focus his attention on something else, anything else, but he came up short. His thoughts always returned to her. She had gotten under his skin and spread through every pore like a disease. But unlike a disease, that's where he wanted her. With him. Inside of his very skin, saturating every sense of his being.   
  
The sound of the guards feet thudding softly down the corridor let him know it was getting late. The guard usually did a check up about five minutes after midnight.   
  
*****  
  
Sheila sat at her desk filing paper work. She had two more dreadful days of doing the work every police officer dreaded. Chief Bennett had put both her and Joe on desk duty until two days from now. In some cruel sense of irony, he thought that their sentence should be up when Marcus' was. She had nearly argued the injustice of that, but had quickly decided against it figuring it was better to serve the time and be back out there patrolling the streets with Marcus getting out.   
  
An officer came by and dropped another load of papers on her desk and she sighed. She knew she had done the right thing and shouldn't feel bad, but she did feel bad.   
  
She had talked with Angela at least twice a week and the two had really bonded during the last year. Angela was like the little sister she had never had, but had always wished for.   
  
And Joe. Joe had been a miracle. Whatever they had going, it was working. She wouldn't call it a relationship, but it wasn't just an ordinary fling either. It didn't matter though. He made her happy, happier than she had been in years, and she knew she would have resigned last year if it hadn't been for him.   
  
She reached for the fresh stack of papers that loitered on her desk and looked down at her watch. The big hand was on the one and the little hand was perched on the twelve. 'Good Grief, it's after midnight.' She sighed and plowed into the work.   
  
*****  
  
Shawn had read the last line six times already and wasn't comprehending a single word. He was worried about Angela. They hadn't discussed it, but he knew she was having the dreams again. He had heard her screaming in her sleep the other day.   
  
He tried reading the line once more, and after being unsuccessful, he put the paper down. It was no use. He couldn't stop thinking about how Marcus getting out was going to affect everyone. Even Cory and Topanga seemed anxious and sick at the thought of Marcus' release. Cory had even suggested that he and Angela should just leave. Shawn had argued that they had worked hard for what they had and shouldn't let some psycho run their lives.   
  
He knew it then and he knew it now, that argument was weak. This wasn't just some psycho. This was a guy who had kidnapped them and shot Angela. This was a wealthy guy with delusions that Angela was in love with him. And even if he had gotten over the delusion, he hadn't moved on. Angela still received letters.   
  
Shawn picked up the bright red pen he used to correct the copy mistakes and picked up another piece of paper. He had to get his thoughts centered on today and not two days from now. He frowned at the words. They appeared blurry.   
  
"Hey, you okay?" Chad Simmons, his boss, asked.  
  
Shawn looked up. "Yeah," he replied weakly. "I'm fine."   
  
"Okay, well let's rap it up okay. It's the big oh five after twelve. We need that copy ready for the paper in half an hour or the print people will get fussy."   
  
Shawn nodded. "I got you." He struggled to focus on his work.   
  
*****  
  
"That's it, pal. That's enough for you." The bartender watched Jack gulp down the remainder of the lukewarm beer.   
  
"One more," Jack slurred.   
  
The bartender shook his head. "Nope, I'm sorry young man, but no can do. You've definitely had your limit and I'd say you let me call you a cab because you're in no condition to drive."   
  
Jack didn't feel like protesting so he just shrugged.   
  
He watched the bartender get on the phone and call a cab for him. 'Might as well. Not like I have anywhere to go.'   
  
He and Rachel were on the downward spiral. He knew it was only a matter of time before she expressed what he already knew, they weren't working and it was all his fault.   
  
He was upset with himself for hurting Rachel. She deserved so much more. She was sweet, caring, lovable and she had poured her entire being into the relationship. Yep, no matter what, he was a bastard.   
  
And then there was Angela. The one person who had managed to avoid him. In the last year or so, everyone had come to him and asked him about the "changes" he was having, but she had managed to keep her distance.   
  
He had only gotten one opportunity to talk to her alone since the kiss and that was soon after the trial. It had stung when she had compared him to Marcus, saying he should "learn to love Rachel and leave me alone". He wasn't sure if it had come out of frustration or anger or been a combination of the two, but he had allowed her to slink back into her hiding place because of it.   
  
"Your cab's here, son. Do you need any help?"   
  
Jack shook his head and laid down several bills on the counter before slightly staggering to the waiting vehicle.   
  
The cabby glanced in the mirror at Jack and spoke roughly. "Where to?"   
  
Jack rattled off an address and then shuffled around in the back seat.   
  
They were cruising down the streets of Philadelphia when Jack asked, "What time is it?"   
  
The cabby took another appraising look at Jack and answered, "12:05, kid."   
  
*****  
  
The room was nestled in the center of the apartment. Kelsie walked sleepily to the crib and pulled the screaming child out. She looked at the last reminder of her fiancé and held back tears as she struggled to quiet little John Jr.   
  
She had been nearly seven months pregnant when the news of John's death had been carried to her doorstep by two weary police officers. It was something she had always feared, but was never entirely prepared for. She had sat in shock for several hours as the police offered her words of encouragement. She could see the worry lining their faces and she knew they felt bad for her.   
  
She didn't know what she hated more, their pity or the fact that they tried to convince her that they understood. They didn't understand a damn thing. She had lost her John, her love, her mate and her best friend. No one could understand. She nearly crumbled when the shock wore off and the pain hit.   
  
She was clearly lingering in the denial stage right now. Next, to come, everyone said, was the anger phase.When she got there, she knew exactly who she would be angry with. It would be that murderous son of a bitch, Marcus.   
  
She sang to her baby, holding him close and rocking him gently.   
  
"Please, baby," she pleaded. "Mama's got to get up early. Quiet down for me." The baby continued to wail. She didn't think about the words before she said them. "Quiet down for your daddy." Almost instantly, John Jr. fell into a hush.   
  
Kelsie could hear the tick of the clock bouncing on the walls and estimated it to be shortly after midnight.   
  
*****  
  
"You lied to the police, didn't you?"   
  
She shook her head. "No!"   
  
"Yes, you did," the attorney sneered. "Just admit it."   
  
"No, no, I didn't. I didn't lie."   
  
"You're lying now."   
  
Sera shook her head again. "I didn't I tell you."   
  
She could feel the faces circling hers. "Liar," they called out.   
  
The taunt "Liar, Liar, pants on fire" echoed in the her head and Sera rolled over and fell onto the floor.   
  
Her body hit the floor with a heavy sound and she awoke.   
  
'Another stupid dream', she reasoned. She pushed herself up with her hands-because she had landed on her stomach-and winced. There was sure to be numerous bruises later on, but now she had to do something about her wounded conscious. It was eating her alive.   
  
She had lied at Angela's trial and now it was coming back to bite her in the butt. The guilt that she had been feeling was overwhelming. She couldn't look Angela in the eye after the reading of the charges. She couldn't even look herself in the eye after that whole ordeal.   
  
She had basically caused two very good officers to get in trouble and possibly put herself-and definitely Angela-in the way of Marcus' wrath.   
  
He was to get out in two days. Her stomach knotted at the thought. This was all her fault. She knew if she had told the truth, he'd been counting days for an appeal and not days until release.   
  
She sighed and picked up her blanket from the floor. The days would have to work themselves out. She looked at the Hello Kitty clock and noticed Kitty lingering around the twelve and the five.   
  
'Must be about 12:05 or something.'   
  
She climbed back into the bed and tried to snuggle into the covers. In two days, it was going to be the start of something bad. She just knew it.   
  
*****  
  
A/N: Well this is just a set up chapter. Things will start fleshing out in the next chapter and there'll be more character interaction and dialogue. Hope this wasn't too cliché. I really have some interesting things I want to do with this story. It's possible it will be several chapters longer than Shades Of Red.   
  
I have current plans to update Hearts On Fire next if everything goes according to my plan. Emphatic Darkness is still brewing in my head, but I hope to be back with that soon as well.   
  
Oh and everyone check out that Firefly DVD.....good show. : 0) 


End file.
